Noisy equipment and apparatus are known to impair the hearing of those who remain subjected to the noise for a long time. Consequently efforts to reduce noise levels by erecting noise barriers is widespread. These noise barriers include rigid panels of wood, metal and concrete erected along highways and train tracks to relatively flexible, light sheets or mats such as those described in Paul Edward Oliveira's U.S. Pat. No. 4,110,510 issued Aug. 29, 1978. U.S. Pat. No. 4,10,510 provides a barrier in the language of the abstract as follows:
"A sound barrier material comprised of a polyvinyl chloride impregnated mesh sheet having a coating of about 0.002 to 3.2 inch gauge of a barium sulfate loaded chlorinated polyethylene laminated to a foam of 1.5 to 2.5 pounds per cubic foot."
It is obvious the above described prior art sound barrier materials require large amounts of labor to install the barrier as each panel is shaped or made on the job site, usually with the use of the most costly labor to cut, shape and install the sound barrier.